The Green Pages at Garden.org

I've been slow to pick up on buying plants on-line [1] because the nurseries here are good to very good about carrying a broad choice of plants and [2] because I usually balk at the thought of paying fifteen to twenty-five dollars for a plant in a 3 inch square / 5 inch deep pot.
This winter, however, our record cold weather prompted more internet surfing than usual and I ended up buying ferns from Fancy Fronds. While Judith Jones and I were talking she strongly recommended I look at the Sebright Gardens website. Taking her seriously, I did.
Sebright has an attractive, easy to navigate website and an excellent selection of 3 ornamental perennials. The selection is both fascinating and a little intimidating.
Sebright offers approximately 500 varieties of hostas... 150 varieties of hardy ferns... and 100 varieties of Epimediums. They ship bare root plants and their prices appear to be very fair. Best of all, their selection of hostas is inspiring. I ordered 5 hostas and 1 fern... but if the budget permitted I could have ordered about 2 dozen more. Here are four good reasons to visit Sebright:


Hosta 'Ben Vernooj'


Hosta 'Brother Stefan'


Hosta 'Magic Island'


'Sunset' Fern [Dryopteris lepidipoda]

Do any of you recall, back in the 1990's, a 10 volume series of paperback books titled "Taylor's Guide to..........."? One of the volumes was "Taylor's Guide to Specialty Nurseries" and I was lucky enough to take it with me when I visited Seattle and Vancouver.
It is, pretty obviously, 2021 and 28 years have passed since I used that book to find outstanding Pacific Northwest nurseries... and some of those nurseries no longer exist.
One that was listed and is still in business is Fancy Fronds Nursery, owned and managed by Judith Jones.
Her website is well worth exploring... her inventory of ferns is very diversified and fascinating... and they are well worth growing in your garden.
If you've never grown ferns before I will strongly recommend the Autumn Fern [Dryopteris erythrosora]. It is a terrific fern to start with.

Great organization, with fast delivery even in winter of 2021 all the way across the country. Excellent selections of heirloom veges.

Issima is co-owned by Ed Bowen previously the owner of Opus Plants and Taylor Johnston previously with Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I have bought from Ed a few times under Opus Plants and Issima. I've done both mail order and in person at the NARGS plant sale. The plant list is always interesting and includes some of their own introductions. I have only gotten healthy, well grown plants from him. He is always friendly and communicative I wouldn't hesitate to order from them.
Here is a picture of my last mail order from them fresh out of the box. Everything was healthy. It includes 3 Ajuga incisa 'Bikun' (Frosted Jade), Helianthus 'Carine', Boehmeria nipononivea 'Glow Light', and Scutellaria incana 'White Sky' which was in bloom.

I ordered from Mail Order Natives 2 seasons ago and will order from them again. The plants were very healthy, reasonably priced and grew well even though they are in Florida and I am in NJ. I wouldn't hesitate to order from them again.

I watched a lady at the gardening section in Barnes & Noble pick up a book, skim through it quickly , put it back, pull out another, skim quickly, put it back... again and again and again. I finally asked her what she was doing... and she said she was looking for an easy-to-understand and easy-to-read book on gardens.

This book is not an easy book. But if you are willing... the chapter on "Garden" is well worth reading. Heinrich Engel presents a western author's take on the Japanese garden that is incredibly valuable and worth examining.

I frankly don't know whether this will interest you or drive you away... but just in front of the foreword is a Publisher's Note unlike anything I have ever seen in a book:

"At one time we urged that, in the interest of greater clarity, the manuscript be completely rewritten either by the author or else by a professional editor. But the author, pointing to the inevitable inadequacy of old words when having to use them to approach new concepts, has argued that such a rewriting would inevitably sacrifice something of his closely reasoned meaning and much of the imprint of the writer's personality, without which any book becomes a dull recital rather than a communion of minds.
... the decision to leave it as such was based on our conviction that this book is something important, something well worth the effort of understanding -- an amazingly thorough analysis and interpretation of the Japanese house and a sincere attempt to arrive thereby at certain universal architectural truths."

You may not read the entire book, but any gardener interested in Japanese gardens will be intrigued by the chapter on the garden.

I have found the staff at Orchid Species Plus easy and helpful to deal with. They have a good range of species that can be hard to find elsewhere and I have never had any issues with the health of the plants provided.

Ramona has a loyal following and get lily bulbs that are unique and HUGE bulbs. She is busy listing 2-3/day and will have around 100 bulbs of one variety for sale (depending on what she is listing). She sells, Orientals, Trumpets, Asiatics, and Martagons in addition to many different hybrid varieties. She is fair, honest, and has a loyal following. You can ask to join the facebook group just to see what she offers. Then you will be in the same boat as I am....very very difficult to resist these beauties!

My family have been ordering and buying seeds from Burpee for a very long time. Every time, we get great results. I highly recommend getting your seeds from them.

This is a small Florida company that carries a nice selection of healthy and correctly labeled amaryllis and caladium bulbs. In the event of the rare problem, they have a cheerful and responsive customer service, which can be reached by phone or email. A pleasure doing business with them for many years.

When I contacted them asking about where the tree peonies were from, I received a prompt reply. They also stated as of Oct. 2020 they grow their own tree peonies in the US.